by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

by Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY Sports

It typically takes a few years to accurately measure the worth of an NFL draft pick, let alone an entire class. But if you happened to catch wind of the reviews coming out of the NFL Scouting Combine that wrapped up last week in Indianapolis ‚?? where the top three quarterback prospects didn't even bother to throw in the passing drills ‚?? this year's crop is supposed to be special.

Colbert, with more than 30 years at his craft, is credible enough. And he's not alone.

Jason Licht, the new Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM: "Best draft I've seen."

Dennis Hickey, the new Miami Dolphins GM: "This draft class‚?¶best in a while."

Meanwhile, Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff surmises, "In my mind, it's a fantastic top 10 draft, and throughout the first round there are some marquee players ‚?¶ they are going to be the impact-type players in this league for a number of years to come."

Well now.

Guess you can't blame the GMs for getting a bit excited. These draft crops tend to run in cycles, and the experts contend that this one is heavy on skilled offensive players ‚?? perfect recruits for an increasingly wide open NFL.

No doubt, there's more buzz at the top of the draft than we saw last year, when a pair of big uglies, offensive tackles Eric Fisher and Luke Joeckel, went 1-2.

This time, the Radio City Music Hall stage will be set for maybe three quarterbacks ‚?? Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater and Blake Bortles ‚?? to fly off the board within the top five picks. And in addition to a few soaring (and big) receivers, defensive end Jadeveon Clowney (6-5, 266) is in the mix with freakish athletic skills supported by his electric 4.53-second blur in the 40-yard dash.

Yet for all of that, and for this NFL hype machine that will steamroll toward May 8, when the three-day draft begins, it's a bit early to draw conclusions.

When it comes to evaluating a draft, snap judgments can be hazardous to reality.

Take Manziel. Johnny Football is an alluring playmaker who makes things happen. Brett Favre said he reminds him of a young Brett Favre ‚?? which can be interpreted in more ways than one. A young Favre threw a lot of picks. At Texas A&M, a young Manziel sometimes held onto the football too long.

And I'm wondering if some of those scrambling college throws Manziel made will be completions in the NFL.

Time will tell.

Clowney comes with so many questions, too. To post his blazing time, he dropped 20 pounds. He had just 21 reps in the 225-pound bench press, which may raise issues about his strength. And he didn't participate in drills, opting to show that at his pro day. Clowney would have likely gone No. 1 overall had he been able to enter last year's draft, and many still rate him as the best player in this draft.

Yet with his dip in sack production (from 13 in 2012 to 3 last season), there are so many theories in play. He's surely a top-5 pick, but the comparisons against himself will persist.

Which Clowney is the real deal?

Then there's Bridgewater, the Louisville quarterback. Mike Mayock has called Bridgewater the most "NFL-ready" passer in the draft. Yet that hardly means the quarterback-starved Houston Texans, picking No. 1 pick, will hitch their wagon to a prospect whose stock is slipping in some eyes while Bortles, the Central Florida quarterback, continues to rise.

The stocks on the top-rated quarterbacks could fluctuate for the next two months. Yet the comments last week ‚?? from a couple of well-respected, former quarterbacks-turned-analysts ‚?? resonated.

Ouch. Jaws can be hard in breaking down quarterbacks, but a third-round grade on Manziel?

CBS analyst Phil Simms, meanwhile, opined that if Geno Smith were in this draft, he would be the top-rated quarterback. Smith, remember, slid to the second round of last year's draft ‚?? and had an uneven rookie season with the New York Jets ‚?? yet Simms would take him over Manziel, Bridgewater and Bortles.

How hot does the draft look if Simms' take is on point?

They say it's deep, which includes three stud offensive tackles expected to go in the top 15 and a bevy of receivers. It's a deeper draft, too, because there are more juniors than ever, 98, and when the best of the underclassmen take first-round slots, it pushes some talented seniors down the board.

And the drafts in this salary cap era often seem deeper because more rookies make the team than would have during the non-cap era, given the youngsters provide cheap, cap-friendly labor.

Still, just how deep this draft is ‚?? or how top-heavy ‚?? remains to be seen.

For top-heavy drafts, the gold standard is 1989, when four Hall of Famers ‚?? Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas and Deion Sanders ‚?? were drafted among the first five picks. I'm not sure how "deep" that draft was, but it got off to a rousing start.

Conversely, the draft slots for quarterbacks guarantees very little. In 1999, Tim Couch, Donovan McNabb and Akili Smith went 1-2-3‚?¶and two were busts. Three years ago, four quarterbacks, led by Cam Newton, went among the top 12 picks ‚?? and the teams that picked Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder are still looking for their franchise quarterbacks.